KKR & Co. is set to become the latest Wall Street name to back metaverse company Animoca Brands Corp, taking the Hong Kong startup’s latest funding round to about US$500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The buyout giant is among several investors in talks to join Animoca’s most recent financing at a pre-money valuation of more than $5 billion, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private information. That adds to the US$359 million first tranche of the funding round, announced in January and involving investors including George Soros and the Winklevoss twins.
Animoca has more than doubled its valuation in just three months, benefiting from the record-beating rush of venture capital into the crypto industry. Executives have told existing investors that they target another funding round as soon as this year that would value Animoca at US$10 billion, two of the people said.
The investment will be one of just a handful that KKR has made in blockchain, after making one of its first plays as part of a US$350 million financing that valued coin vault Anchorage Digital at more than US$3 billion. The private equity giant in recent years has increasingly focused on startups to complement its traditional business.
Representatives with KKR and Animoca declined to comment.
Founded in 2014 by tech entrepreneur Yat Siu, Animoca offers a slew of blockchain-based games in genres like car racing and tower defense. It also acts as a venture firm itself, scooping up slices of over 150 crypto projects and companies from the NBA Top Shot maker Dapper Labs to NFT marketplace OpenSea and blockchain protocol Polygon.
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It’s one of a plethora of blockchain industry players that have benefited from the massive influx of capital. Cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading’s valuation hit US$25 billion in October and NFT trading platform OpenSea surpassed US$13 billion in January. Animoca -- whose other backers include Ubisoft, Sequoia China and Mirae Asset -- itself was valued at US$2.2 billion as recently as October.
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